


the air is cool and it darkens

by allumerlesoir



Category: Elisabeth (Színház), Elisabeth - Levay/Kunze
Genre: F/M, Gen, i'm sorry for how sad this is, tw child death, tw death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 05:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1886913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allumerlesoir/pseuds/allumerlesoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It rains the day he takes her child from her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the air is cool and it darkens

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for: artdalek  
> Petrichor: The smell of dry rain on the ground.
> 
>  
> 
> Title from "I Don't Know What It Could Mean" (original title: "Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten") by Heinrich Heine

It rains the day he takes her child from her.

As the night falls, little Sophie’s cries grow louder, and Elisabeth does what she can to assuage her daughter, but she is not used to mothering – she was never allowed to be a mother – and she awkwardly holds Sophie in her arms. The large window is open, and the soft spring wind brings the rain in to the room, a cooling breeze against Sophie’s too-hot skin.

Elisabeth can feel Sophie’s heartbeats slow, her breaths becoming more like gasps, and her cries quieting. And then, she can feel him, his hands cold on her shoulders as he turns her around in her chair, so she can see him and he can see her. Reflexively, she covers Sophie as best she can with the blanket across her knees, and she looks up at him, that ghost that has plagued her for years.

He smiles at her then, his eyes sparkling, and he reaches for her child, for her daughter, and she tries to pull away from him but his hands are strong and hers are weak, and he takes Sophie into his arms.

There is still a smile on his lips when he leans down to press them to Sophie’s lips, and she screams but he doesn’t seem to hear her. He is serene, and the strong sweet scent of that spring rain against the too-dry ground fills the air until she can think of nothing else but that and his smile – which has grown almost sad, but she will not fall for his games – and he is speaking to her but she does not hear his words. All she hears are the ghosts of her daughter’s cries and the beating of her heart in her chest. And all she feels is the soft rain as the moon rises in the sky.


End file.
